The box office check-up of 1935 (1936)

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WHAT MADE THE BOX OFFICE CHAMPIONS <1 Examining the leading money-making pictures in an attempt to determine why they were by gus McCarthy ONE year ago, discussing the same topic (which, by its nature, is more a statement of fact than it is a question), the writer maintained that as it was successfully incorporated in a picture, "understandable and believable humanness" is the quality which established certain pictures as Box Office Champions in relation to the sum total of all produced. The pictures that have become Champions since, rather than having any tendency to alter that opinion, serve to confirm it. During the period from August I, 1934 to October 31, 1935, approximately 475 feature pictures were exhibited in this country's theatres. The great majority of these were American productions. Of that number 96, or 20 per cent of the total, were of sufficient entertainment and commercial value to become Box Office Champions. If these pictures are studied it becomes increasingly evident, in all but a few exceptions, that as they possessed the power of arousing the various human emotions, so did the theatre-going public appreciate them, to the extent that it made them exceptional attractions. Consequently it seems that human interest as a factor in pictures — regardless of fhe importance of who is in it, no matter what the story ch aracter, independent of fhe elaborateness or economy of substantiating effects, the record of the director or producing company prestige — is the element that separates the sheep from the goats. During the year 1935, Hollywood's producers had a responsibility to the nation's theatre-goers and showmen greater than ever before. Various causes forced them into a situation where they had to prove themselves capable of meeting public interest. How well they met that responsibility is witnessed not only in the quality of the Box Office Champions, but in the general improved character of the entire production program. The class of pictures brought to the industry a prosperity that wiped out bitter memories of many disappointing and lean years. Certainly motion pictures today enjoy a public good-will seldom previously attained. Definite demonstration of this esteem is found in the number of pictures which the public, by its patronage and support, caused to become Champions. As all acknowledge the part Hollywood, its producers, actors, writers, directors, composers, cameramen and technical specialists played in producing the Champions, no one can deny that the work of America's theatre operators in marketing the attractions was not of as much if not more importance in their success. Through direct contact between manufacturer and consumer, they did a remarkable job. One needs but thumb through successive issues of Motion Picture Herald, and the pages devoted to the Managers' Round Table Club, to become aware of the splendid job the nation's showmen have done and are continumg to do. Week after week its pages are replete with examples of exploitation ingenuity and resourcefulness which Hollywood is proud to admit are sources of greaf inspiration. If producers earnestly strove to include the required necessities in their attractions, evidence is ample that the showmen were and are aggressively alert to what is expected of them. In the list of Champions there is more than one case in which producers had grave doubts as to the success of the picture when they shipped the film. It is not difficult to imagine their surprise and pleasure when, solely as a result of the efforts of showmen, their ugly ducklings metamorphosed into radiant box office Prince Charmings. Though a great many exhibitors, through force of necessity, were engaged in selling Bank Nights, Buck Nights, etc., they still found occasion to turn from the operations of peddlers to their primary function — showmanship, the selling of screen merchandise. Only the recollection of the various Champions, whether drama, comedy, romance, mystery, melodrama, musical, spectacle or combination of any or all, is necessary to note the diligence with which producers sought to include human interest. If one checks the list of Champions, it is readily noted that the story of each was designed to stimulate some particular one, or combination of several, primary human emotions — desire, fear, hope, love, joy, grief and hatred. Production effects, in each case, whether glamorous or grim, gay or somber, were especially designed to ac centuate mental reactions basically moved by dialogue, by action or by music. That theatre-goers have a very definite conception of what they want in screen entertainment is emphatically illustrated by the enthusiasm with which they supported the Champions, as well as their entire lack of interest in those attractions which, wanting the quality they sought, proved flops. During the year, many features boasting high name value casts, produced by companies whose trade mark presumably guaranteed quality, and upon which vast sums of money had been spent, failed. On the other hand, unpretentious pictures, presumably devoid of all that the formula calls for in a big picture, achievect signal commercial and entertainment success. They did so because the public found in them values producers and showmen did not, at first, realize were present. Thus, human interest plus three contributing factors — the producer, showman and public — made certain ones, of all pictures, Champions. As the manufacturer included human interest in his product, as the showman advertised it, so did it succeed. It has sometimes been advocated that, considering the various strata of intelligence that pictures must appeal to, it is impossible to hit upon a definite formula acceptable to all. Champions of the past, [TURN TO PAGE 144] WHO MADE THE CHAMPIONS BEGIN ON PAGE 16 TABLES LISTING THOSE THE BOX OFFICE CHECK-UP OF 1935 7